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Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Department of Health officials attempt to bring in nurse and home abortion through back door

Doctors will be able to authorise abortions without seeing
women and nurses will be authorised to perform abortions and send women home to
abort their babies under new draft regulations from the Department of Health.

The proposed wide-ranging changes are currently being rushed
through in a ‘consultation’
process of which many key stakeholders are apparently unaware.

The main beneficiaries are thought to be the British
Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes International (MSI) which according
to the Charity
Commission have annual turnovers of £25m and £175m respectively.

This week the Sexual Health Team of the Department of Health
announced that they were closing the consultation, which was launched only on
22 November, on 17 January, three weeks before the 3 February closing date
advertised on their website.

The move led to a storm of protest from groups who thought
they still had three weeks to prepare their submissions.

But now following an 11th hour intervention by
the government the original closing date has been restored.

Under the Abortion Act 1967 abortions can only be performed
if two doctors affirm ‘in good faith’ that an abortion request meets at least
one of the grounds set out in the Act.

Furthermore only a registered medical practitioner (RMP) can
perform an abortion.

The role of nurses in abortion has thus far been limited. They
cannot authorise abortions nor carry them out but can only administer drugs
used for medical abortions once they have been prescribed by a doctor.

But this will change dramatically if the new regulations go
through.

The proposals are outlined in two documents that can be
downloaded from the Department
of Health website. The first is the consultation document itself (12pp) and
the second details the proposed procedures (34pp).

The most important part of the latter is section 3 on
Required Standard Operating procedures (RSOPs). It is RSOPs 1 and 2 on pp10-12
that deal with nurse and home abortion.

RSOP 1 essentially says that it is not necessary for doctors
to see the women in order to authorise abortions ‘in good faith’ – nurses or
others can gather the information and all the doctors need do is sign.

‘We consider it good practice that one of the two
certifying doctors has seen the woman, although this is not a legal
requirement.’

Today it emerged in an answer to a parliamentary
question from Edward Leigh MP that over half of all abortions may already involve no doctor actually
seeing the pregnant woman.

RSOP 2 is worded in such a way that it could allow nurses
both to carry out surgical abortions and also to prescribe abortion drugs. This
would appear to be against the letter and intention of the law.

‘The RMP is not
required to personally perform every action. Certain actions may be undertaken
by registered nurses or midwives (who are not RMPs) provided they are fully
trained and the provider has agreed protocols in place.’

Furthermore it also allows patients having medical
(drug-induced) abortions to abort at home provided they have had their drugs
administered in the clinic.

‘Both drugs for the
medical abortion must therefore be taken in the hospital or approved place.
Women may be given the choice to stay on the premises or to go home soon after
taking the second tablet, to be in the privacy of their own home for the
expulsion.’

Another RSOP (25) says controversially that babies up to 24 weeks who are being aborted do not need pain relief because they do not have the
neural connections necessary to feel pain.

This is based on a highly
contentious report on fetal pain from the Royal College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists which one leading paediatrician has compared to the ‘Emperor’s
new clothes’.

The fact that such radical changes to abortion practice are
being introduced with such haste and so little transparency will no doubt raise
eyebrows in government.

But the abortion industry, together with the RCOG, BMA and
GMC, has clearly been working very hard behind the scenes to ensure that it
happens as quickly and smoothly as possible.

The changes, if they are authorised as intended, could
reduce doctors in independent ‘clinics’ to perfunctory rubber-stamps allowing
nurses effectively to authorise and perform abortions.

This new consultation appears to be a reaction to these
events and an attempt to formalise and establish practices at the very edge of the
law which are already widespread.

But it could well fuel calls for a full and comprehensive
enquiry into why the abortion law is apparently being reinterpreted and not
upheld.

It is after all the duty of parliament to make laws; not
abortion providers and not the Department of Health.

I would encourage every individual and organisation with an
interest to take advantage of the restored closing date and make a submission.
It is thankfully not yet too late to influence these developments.

4 comments:

What about that law that requires doctors to have admitting privledges to hospitals before being able to perform abortions?How would that work for the nurses performing abortions? This is insanity how the abortion industry wants no regulations to the point that many clinics aren't even inspected by the health department, which is why Kermit Gosnell got away with his house of horrors for 20 years!!

There are some really loved reading your blog. It was very well authored and easy to understand. Unlike additional blogs I have read which are really not good. I also found your posts very interesting. In fact after reading, I had to go show it to my friend and he enjoyed it as well!

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Kiwi, Christian and Medical

This blog deals mainly with matters at the interface of Christianity and Medicine. But I do also diverge into other subjects - especially New Zealand, rugby, economics, developing world, politics and topics of general Christian and/or medical interest. The opinions expressed here are mine and may not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or anyone else associated with me.

About Me

I am CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organisation with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. The opinions expressed here however are mine, and may not necessarily reflect the views of CMF or anyone else associated with me.